Hosiery drying form



Dec. 22, 1931.

T. w. PROSSER ET AL 1,337,481

HOSIERY DRYING FORM I Filed Dec. 21, 1929 gwvanliow 7%0ma5 ll/ z rossefu am), ww

Patented Dec. 22, I931 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE I THOMAS W. I'HOSSERAND JOHNH. WAHLBEGK, OF KANKAKEE', ILLINOIS, ASSIGN ORS T PARAMOUNT TEXTILE MACHINERY 00., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS .A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS HOSIERY DRYING Form Application file d December 21, 1929. SeriaI'No. 415,855.

This invention relates to hosiery drying forms and contemplates, particularly, the provision ofa form of simple and compact construction which may be advantageously ,5 used where it is desiredto employ only a single unit. i

With the recent improvements in repair needles and the invention of machines for rapldly repa1r1ng.runs 1n hos ery, there has 7 10 grownup a large repair businessinconjunction with which the form constituting the subject-matter of the present invention isto be used. Naturally, it is the desire of-the repair shop toreturnstockings tov the customer in a neat,"pressed'conditionjust as stockings areforiginallypurchased over the retail counter. The advantages of a form such as thatwhich will now be described will therefore be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art,

The principaljobjectof our invention is to provide a hosiery drying form whichvmay be readily heated by simple means and which i will remain at a relatiyelyeven temperature even though the form be used only intermittently. V i

Another object of t e invention is toprorvide hosiery drying apparatus. comprising a form which is, preferably, rotatably' sup-j 0 ported upon a pedestal orstanda rd so that stockings boarded thereon may be readily inspected or sprayed, if'desir'ed.

A further object of the invention is to'pro vide hosiery drying apparatus includinga drying form adapted tojcontain aheating medium and means locatediwithin the form for heating the heating medium therein.

Still another object of the invention is to 7 provide hosiery drying apparatus including 49 a form which'may be easily filled with a heat'-.

ing medium and in which the source of sup ply of the heating medium servesalso as an expansion tank for the medium'in the form.

Other objects and advantages of the inventionv will be more fully brought out as the description proceeds. 7 V 1 v In the accompanying, drawings, we have illustrated a preferred embodiment of our invention and also amodification thereof. .7 It

will be understood, however, that these drawf ings are illustrative, merely, and that our lnvention is not limited'tothe details of con-.

struction therein, disclosed but may, on the I the hosiery drying structure illustrated in Fig. l; and

I Fig. 3 is a partialsectional View, similar to Fig. 2, but of a modified formvof the invention. I I While, as .hereinbefore pointed out, it is the-essential purpose of the present inventionto provide a unitary hosiery drying form which may be conveniently used in the mending servi'ce,itwill lee-understood that our in; vention is not limited to a structure embodying only a single form, but that modifications thereof may include the mounting of a plural ity. of forms in substantially the same mannerherein disclosed.

which may be of anysuitable and well known construction. The form is provided with an attaching portion 2 whichis secured, asby suitable bolts 3, to a hollow base 4. r The base. 4 isprovided with a bearing or projection 5 which extends into a hollow standard 6 supported upon a suitable base or platform This base or platform is preferably made of considerable weight so. as .to maintain the structure rigid inv upright position and it is also, preferably, sufficiently large so that the operator may stand thereon whenboarding stockings on the form. The hearing or proje'ction 5 is rotatable in the standard 6 so that the form may be turned when it is desired to inspect the hosiery or to spray the same. For, the purpose of facilitating turning of the form the base piece 4 is provided with a suitable handle 8.

7 Thus, we have provided apcompact form of drying apparatus which, broadly, comprises a drying form rotatably mounted ona standard or pedestal. By referring to Fig. 2, theinterior coni 75 Referring to these drawings, the reference numeral'l indicates a hosiery drying form' struction of our hosiery drying form will be clearly understood. The interior of the form is divided into two sections or channels by means of a central rib or partition 9 which extends from the base and up into the toe portion of the form. Suitable openings 10 and 11 atloru communlcation between the sections of the form and the interior 12 of the base a. Projecting into the interior 12 is a baffle 13, the purpose of which is to assure that the heating medium will circulate in the form by passing upwardly through the back of the form into the heel portion thereof and downwardly from the toe portion.-

The form is provided with a tube 1 which extends from the toe portion of the form and down through the base l and is provided-at its outlet end with a suitable valve 15,"for a purpose hereinafter more fully pointed out.

A; form of the construction so far described is particularly adapted to be used when hot water is employed as the heating medium. lnorder to fill the form with water, wehave provided an expansion tank or reservoir 16 which may be supported by any suitable means at a selected distance above the top of the form. A suitable flexible tube 17 connects the expansion tank or reservoir to the base of the form and through this tube the water will fiow from the tank and into the form.

The reference character 18 indicates a heating element for heating the water within the form. Preferably, and as shown in Fig. 2, this is an electric heating element, although it will be readily apparent that any other source of heat might equally well be employed as will be clear from the description, hereinafter, of a modification ofour invention. The electric heating element 18 may, of course, be of any suitable and well known construction. Electric energyis conducted to the heating element 18 through suitable conductors 19.

Instead of mounting the heating-element 18 in the bottom of the base 4, it may be desirable to employ a so-called immersion heater, that is to say, an electric heater which contacts directly with the medimn, suchas water, which is to be heated. The advantage of using the so-ealled immersion type of heater is that the medium is more rapidly heated. However, the heating element isvery apt to burn out in the event that the water in the form becomes low and hence it is necessary that the water be maintained at-a definite level.

The foregoing description will make clear the construction or" our form and it is believed that its operation will. also be readily under-- stood by those skilled in the art. The operation maybe summarized as follows: Assuming that the form is set up as disclosed in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the first step is to suspend the expansion tank 16- at a suitable distance, say one foot, above the toe of the form. The expansion tank is then filled with water which, of course, should be clean and free from foreign matter which might accumulate and become deposited upon the interior of the form. The valve 15 will then be opened-and as water flows from the tank 16 into the form the air in the form will be displaced and will pass out throughthe tube 14. NVhen the form is entirely filled with water, some water will escape through the valve 15 which will then be closed The form is then ready for operation and the currentisturned on to'energize the heating element 18. As the water is heated, circulation thereof will be effected through the form, it being understood that the baflle 13, assures that the water will circulate upwardly through the heel portion and downwardly from the toe portion. As is well known, when water is heated, a certain amount of air contained therein is very apt to collect in the toe portion of the form, but this may be overcome by merely opening the valve 15 to allow a small quantity of the liquidto escape. The heating element 18 very quickly heats the water in the form,'and since the water will retain its heat for considerabletime, it'is quite clear that even when the form is used only intermittently it will nevertheless be maintained over such periods at a relatively even temperature;

In'Fig. 3we' have disclosed a modification of ourinvention, the construction of which will now be described. In orderto fill the form of thisembodiment with wateror other heating medium, it is necessary first to remove the form. from the standard and fill it with .water or other heating medium. The

water is int oduced. into the form through an aperture closed by a suitable plug 22. lhereuprm the formis replaced on the standard. A heating means similar to the electric heating element 18, disclosed in connection with the preferredembodiment of our invention, may also be used, in the present struc ture. W e have, however, illustrated a different heating means which, in this instance, comprises a gas flame 20, the gas being suppliedthrough. a suitable burner 21. It will be understood that asthe water, or other medium, is heated inthe form, a certain amount of vapor is created and this vapor collects in the toe of the form. There is thus created a pressure which tends to force the heating medium out of the form and into the expansion tank 24: through the pipe 1% and the flexible extension 23. As the form cools, this vapor condenses and thus there is created a vacuum within the form. It will be understood that the expansion tanl; 24 is open to the atmosphere and consequently atmospheric pressure will force water, or other heating medium, fromthe expansiontank. 2 k and into theform, thusmaintainingtheform filled.

It will thus be seen that we have provided 'heat' said heating medium while in said form, a hosiery drying form which is well adapted and means to promote circulation of said for the purposes of the repair business, but heating medium through said form in a prethe utility of which is .by no means'confined determined direction.

thereto. Thus, the hosiery drying form of In testimony whereof, we afiix our signathe present invention may also be employed tures. V

by dyers, who when matching colors, require a small unit for quick drying of samples. lVhile only one form may be required and set up in accordance with the foregoing description, it will be understood, of course, that two or more forms may be similarly mounted, all drawing their supply'of heating medium from the same expansion tank.

By the use 'ofour invention, the hosiery mender is enabled to return to his customers the repaired stockings in a condition the same as when new stockings are bought over the retail counter. By the use of hot water as a medium for heating the form, it will be readily appreciated that the form will main tain its even temperature over a much longer period of time so that where the form is used v only intermittently, the current for the electhe form upon a standard, as hereinbefore described, we have provided a simple and satisfactory construction where the usual tables cannot be installed. As has been pointed out, the base 7 is made of heavy material so that the form will remain in upright position, and, furthermore, this base is so large that the operator may stand thereon while boarding hosiery, thus assuring that the form will remain rigid and in upright position.

We claim: 1. Hosiery drying apparatus including a drying form hollow to contain a heating medium, a source of supply of heating medium located above said form, means to convey heating medium from said source of supply to said form, and means unitary with said form for heating said medium.

2. Hosiery drying apparatus including a drying form hollow to contain a heating medium, an expansion tank located above said form and adapted to contain a supply of heating medium, means to convey heating medium from said tank to said form, means to permit escape of air from said form as the heatingmedium rises therein, and means at the base of said form for heating the heating medium.

3. Hosiery drying apparatus including a drying form hollow to contain a heating medium, an expansion tank located above said form and adapted to contain a supply of heating medium, means to convey heating medium from said tank to said form, means to THOMAS W. PROSSER. JOHN H; WAHLBEGK. 

